TITLE:
Antimicrobial Assay of Chlorhexidine-Wetted Textile Napkins for Surgical Site Disinfection in Ocular Surgery
AUTHORS:
Amir Reza Daneshmand Eslami
KEYWORDS:
Chlorhexidine; Endophthalmitis; Levofloxacin; Phacoemulsification; Surgical Site Disinfection
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Clinical Medicine,
Vol.4 No.12,
December
30,
2013
ABSTRACT:
Background: As a new intraoperative disinfection
method, chlorhexidine-wetted textile napkins have been employed in order to
cover the upper and lower eyelid edges, eyelid skin, eyelashes, lid margins and
palpebral conjunctiva during phacoemulsification cataract extraction. This
study was conducted to compare the antimicrobial activity of textile napkins before and after their use. Methods: This study
evaluated 80 textile napkins wetted with 0.02% aqueous solution of
chlorhexidine. All textile napkins were divided into groups. The study group
consisted of 60 used textile napkins which were collected from 29 patients (30
eyes) at the end of phacoemulsification, and the control group included 20
unused sterile textile napkins. Antimicrobial assay was performed by means of
measuring the growth inhibition zones of the standard or clinical isolate
strains under the textile napkins on the surface of agar media. Results: The number of
textile napkins and the diameter of the growth inhibition zones (mm) in the
study group and in the control group relating to gram-positive, gram-negative,
and fungi were:
24/31 vs. 8/31, 32/30 vs. 8/30, and 4/30 vs. 4/30. The diameter of the growth
inhibition zones of gram-positive bacteria was more than other investigated
microorganisms. In the growth inhibition zones, exogenous microorganism
colonies were not found. Conclusion: Antimicrobial activity of
textile napkins wetted with 0.02% aqueous solution of chlorhexidine against gram-positive bacteria is more
than gram-negative bacteria and fungi, and is preserved to the end of
the phacoemulsification.